1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a still camera and, more particularly, to a film transporting device for use in such a camera.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a film transporting device for use in a still camera has an up-down counter which counts up used frames during a series of photographing operations. More particularly, the up-down counter counts up by one as the film is pulled out for one frame from a film cartridge, with the used frame being wound on a film take-up spool. The up-down counter counts down the frames during a rewind operation and is carried out to control the timing to interrupt the rewind operation. More particularly, the up-down counter counts down by one as the film is rewound for one frame back into the film cartridge.
According to the prior art film transporting device, the up-down counter is so actuated as to start the up-count from an initial value, such as zero, after the closure of the camera's back lid. Furthermore, according to the prior art, the film rewinding operation is interrupted when the up-down counter has counted down to the initial value. Therefore, the prior art film transporting device has such a disadvantage particularly in removing, or unloading, the film, as explained below.
From a practical point of view, when loading a film into a camera, an operator pulls out a leading end portion of the film for a certain length from a film cartridge, engages the perforations of the film with the sprocket teeth, and then, engages the leading end of the film on a take-up spool. Furthermore, before he closes the rear cover, he usually advances a couple frames to make sure that the film is correctly loaded and that the film portion spanning across the camera's shutter window is taut. Then, he closes the rear cover and makes a couple of blind shots, so that the frame counter advances from "S" to "0", ready for taking photographs. During the photographing, the film is wound on the take-up spool. Since the counter is actuated after the closure of the back lid, it counts up the number of frames for said blind shots and photographing shots.
When unloading the film from the camera, the film transporting device of the prior art is operated to rewind the film back into the cartridge, and during such a rewinding operation, the counter counts down the same amount as the amount it has counted up. When the counter is counted down to its initial value, such as zero, the film rewinding completes.
According to the prior art film transporting device, even after the completion of a rewinding operation, the film leading portion is not completely withdrawn from a sprocket, but is still wound on the take-up spool. Therefore, in order to remove the film, the operator has to further rewind the film leading portion from the take-up spool and to wind the leading portion into the cartridge.